Jimmy Kouba - Journal Archive

Although still a bit cool, race season has commenced in the great lands of the north. The cool temps have their own rewards though... Mosquito Season hasn't started yet! Our season opener came on April 12 at one of our favorite area tracks, Cedar Lake Speedway.

It was a sunny, spring day which made the trip north to New Richmond, Wisconsin a welcome tour. As always, I had my last minute, somewhat irrational, fears that I somehow forgot how to pilot a sprinter during our winter long hibernation. Fortunately, by the end of hot laps driving was as comfortable as visiting with long absent friends. A touch less then 30 sprints ventured out. The random draw for our heat start placed us 3rd row outside in the second of the 3 sprint heats. At the drop of the green, we grabbed the fifth spot as I tried to find a comfortable line. We moved into fourth within a lap and closed on a John Nelson and Billy Boles while they battled over 2nd and 3rd. With a nice move down the front chute, we split them both and took away 2nd. Hunting down the leader Al Hargrave, we passed for the lead about mid-way through the race and sailed on for a comfortable heat win.

A very happy crew set about getting us ready for the A main. Too bad for us, the feature run didn't go as well as the heat. At the outset, we were victims of Wissota's random redraw for the feature starting spots. We landed a fourth row spot. Yuck - but still better then fellow heat race winner Roger Rager's fifth row spot behind us. Meanwhile, Jerry Richert Jr. (the other heat winner) claimed front row pole with Billy Boles on the front row outside (yep, the same guy I beat by nearly a half a lap in the heat). But enough whining...

Despite a good car, I couldn't muster much of an effort for the feature. My nephew Joseph helped bring out the red flag early when he wrecked hard along with John Frantzen. Joseph's car was in bad shape, but both he and John were only shaken, not stirred. Throughout the event, we had a few good wheel to wheel battles, first with Roger the Racer, then later with Mark Toews. I came out on the short end of both, but they were good while they lasted. We finished in 10th. Mark wound up 9th but had brought his mount up from the tail end of the field. Roger charged up to 7th. Brother Joe held up the family name with a solid 5th. JR Jr. led quite a bit but Billy caught him "sleeping" in lapped traffic. Taking the lead, Billy Boles held strong to win the Wissota Sprint opener with Jerry Richert Jr. 2nd.

A special "Thank You" goes out to Greg Parent of GRP Trivia Contest fame for the $100 heat win bonus. GRP, along with Stan M. and the Vinster, delivered rewards in person to Jerry, Roger and me. Thanks to all of you for your contribution, both time and money, to our sport!!!

What's next: Jackson Speedway on April 26th, for their annual Fronstbuster event. Jackson is a full time Wissota Sprint track this year and is reported to have many improvements to their facilities. If you're in the neighborhood, check in on us and see if I can exorcize my "Jackson Demons". It will be 20 years since I first pushed off for a race at Jackson. In all that time I've only managed 2 wins. The first was the 1991 Frostbuster while the last was University of Okoboji night in 1994. Jamie and I have a few ideas, so maybe...